Good News and the Beach in Everyday Ramblings

Our last morning at the beach. It has been a mixed bag, weather wise, but not cold, or at least not raining the whole time as you can see. We even saw a flock of brown pelicans on our first day here. Also, with the not fabulous weather there are fewer people out and about which suits me just fine.

Most Honorable ordered me one of the new $30 Bluetooth Apple laptop devices that lets you easily use the camera from your iPhone to Zoom on your laptop. The iPhone 13 camera is so much better than the laptop camera (and the webcam I have) it is a joke. I taught with it on Friday morning out here and it was fun. A little more detail on my aging body is visible this way, but the best thing is that I can get my whole body in the picture easily, which I was unable to do before.

In my morning classes we have our cameras on and talk to each other. When I am only recording and not teaching live, I use my iPhone and my Pivo which tracks my movements with AI, but I haven’t been able to do that when teaching live so far. One of my teacher friends has a projector and projects his zoom screen on a wall but I don’t have the space for that. Plus, he uses a lot of light.

There is a lowlight feature on this device, which means “normal” light.

All this stuff we have had to learn during the pandemic. I was the only person on the train down wearing a mask. And they have now stopped making you attest you don’t have Covid before you board. We are all on our own now.

I had good news on Thursday. I had my throat, vocal cords, and voice evaluated and there is no physical damage. I am so relieved. The hoarseness (what some might call vocal fry) and other issues I am having are a combo of my genetic makeup and the way I breathe when I talk.

They put a camera down my nose and recorded me with a mic on my neck saying things, reading things and making sounds. Then they showed me the recording. Way more than I wanted to see in terms of the inside of my throat and nose. But interesting if you like that kind of thing.

I have been scheduled for four sessions with the lovely speech therapist I met with the medical team, at the end of the year. They say they think I can learn a better vocalizing technique in that time. She is also a yoga teacher which is cool.

Having better vocal quality will make me more attractive to new students. My current students tell me they don’t notice my voice, but they are used to me. I would never be able to do a podcast with my voice the way it is.

It takes hours to get home as I do it in stages, but I am looking forward to being with the cats again even though the break has been a balm for the weary caregiver I have been. Good for us all.

And then so many of us are going through the time change over the next week. This time of year, the cats take longer to adjust and pester me earlier.

And all the “extra” dark up here this time of year.

For those of you who enjoy it, Happy Halloween. For the rest of us, enjoy the new week as it unfolds.

Last updated October 30, 2022